How Lack of Sleep Affects Your Memory
If you've ever had consecutive nights of little to no sleep, you may have felt a little slow on the uptake the following morning. Not only has lack of sleep been linked to short-term memory loss and associated impairment with regard to how we process information, but studies also indicate that lack of quality sleep can increase our risk for memory loss as we age.
Other People Are Reading
-
Basics
-
To understand how sleep is tied to memory, we must first understand how memories are created. According to Duke University, the brain is made up of billions of nerve cells called neurons. These cells communicate with each other. It's believed that different parts of the brain are responsible for different types of memories, such as short-term memory. Think of your brain as a filing system: Memories are first registered when neurons are stimulated by an external source. From there the memories are stored and can later be retrieved. There is still much to be learned about just how and where memories are stored.
Influences
-
If you don't get enough sleep, you can't focus or concentrate the way you normally would. This is crucial, according to Duke University, because an inability to focus or concentrate messes up the registration process so vital to our memory formation.
-
Fatal Familial Insomnia
-
It may sound extreme, but examples of a rare genetic condition whereby family members eventually can't sleep at all offer some insight into how lack of sleep affects memory. According to Dr. Joyce Schenkein in an article which appeared in the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Biotechnology Information website in 2006, (Medscape General Medicine, vol. 8) fatal familial insomnia can be divided into four stages with the first stage, progressively worsening sleeplessness, starting typically between the ages of 40 and 60. Memory loss characterizes the final stage. By this time, the victim is suffering from total insomnia and looks much older than his years. The onslaught of dementia is usually quickly followed by an inability to speak or perform other basic functions and death.
Quality Sleep
-
Not all sleep is created equal, and it is the lack of REM sleep that may well be most dangerous to our memory. Rapid eye movement is one of five sleep stages, and the one when dreams occur. According to a study authored by Dr. Dennis McGinty of the Veterans Administration of Greater Los Angeles Heathcare system, which appeared in the February 6, 2008 edition of research news website Science Daily, if you're starved of REM sleep for as little as four days, your forebrain, the part that is said to be responsible for long-term memories, may be impaired. It's to be noted that this particular study looked at the impact of REM-deprivation on memory in rats.
Alzheimer's
-
The Franklin Institute, an educational science and technology resource named after Benjamin Franklin, reports that lack of sleep may speed up age-related memory loss. It's believed that sleep deprivation or insomnia creates metabolic and endocrine-system changes, and that those changes can hasten memory-related disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of André Mouraux
